We love natural food co-ops. 

That’s why we think it’s a big problem when our favorite stores sell foods like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream that are contaminated with Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.

Please sign our petition, you can fill in the form on this page. Then hit up NCG on Facebook  and Twitter. 

Where would our movement be without natural food co-ops? We don’t want to ever have to learn the answer to that question. 

If you’re one of the 1.3 million consumer-owners of a natural food co-op, you know what we’re talking about. There’s no better example of food democracy! (If you don’t already shop at a natural food co-op, find out if there’s one near you. If there isn’t, get one going in your own community). 

Natural food co-ops usually do a good job of stocking organic and avoiding GMO, pesticide-drenched and factory-farm food. So, we were surprised to learn that, even after we revealed that Ben & Jerry’s contained potentially dangerous levels of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer, there were still a significant number of natural food co-ops  selling Ben & Jerry’s.

Why would natural food co-ops sell Ben & Jerry’s or any other food that contains potentially carcinogenic pesticides like glyphosate? 

We couldn’t figure it out, until we learned from one of our members that the NCG is actively promoting Ben & Jerry’s! 

According to an OCA member who was part of a successful campaign to get the Feather River Food Co-Op in Portola, California, to stop stocking Ben & Jerry’s, it’s the NCG that’s pushing the brand on stores:

This store had never carried Ben and Jerry's ice cream until a sale flyer came out from their main co-op supplier, NCG, (National Co-operative Grocers) listing Ben and Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake ice cream as a sale item on the flyer. She and her assistant decided to stock a small supply of just that flavor for the sale ad. Soon she was hearing from customers (besides me) that there were problems with Ben and Jerry's Ice cream company, perhaps even more than the glyphosate. Soon they pulled the three that were left. She has told me they do not plan to sell this product in the future. I hope someone from OCA has contacted the NCG.

Of the 10 natural food co-ops represented by NCG’s board members, half sell Ben & Jerry’s (Wheatsville Co-op, Briar Patch Co-op Market, French Broad Food Co-op, New Pioneer Food Co-op, and Putney Food Co-op) and half do not (Viroqua Food Co-op, PCC Community Markets, Community Food Co-op - Bozeman, Chico Natural Foods Cooperative and Astoria Co-op Grocery).

Please sign our petition to NCG’s board. When we hit 10,000 signatures, we’ll deliver the petition asking the individual members of the NCG to stop selling Ben & Jerry’s and asking the board members to agree to stop pushing Ben & Jerry’s on NCG’s members.

We envision a world where you can go to the grocery store and pick anything off the shelf without having to worry about whether or not it was made with genetically modified organisms or carcinogenic pesticides, or if it comes from polluting factory farms where the farmers don’t get paid the cost of production and the workers are denied their basic human rights.  

Unfortunately, when your local food co-op sells Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, that’s the reality the store is supporting.

It won’t be the Walmarts or the Costcos or the Amazon/Whole Foods of the world that stop selling brands like Ben & Jerry’s in favor of real fair trade organic food. It’s going to be the natural food coops.

But they won’t act until they hear from you.

Please use the form at the top right-hand corner of this page to sign the petition.